How to Caption Your Short Videos Before You Post
A Free Creator Workflow
A lot of people scroll short-form feeds with the sound off. If your clip has no captions, the first few seconds are a silent video of someone talking, and the viewer moves on. Captions keep them reading long enough to hear your point. They also make the video accessible, and they let you reach viewers who speak another language.
This guide walks through a caption workflow for TikTok, Reels and Shorts. Every step runs in a browser, and the free tier covers most short clips.
Start with a reference library
Before you style your own captions, collect examples. When you see a creator whose captions keep you watching, save the video to a playlist, say "Caption styles" or "Hooks". After a few weeks you'll see the patterns: how many words appear at once, which words get highlighted, where the text sits on screen, and how the first line hooks you.
Use these videos to study the style. Don't reupload them.
Step 1: Transcribe your clip
Open Captions Generator and drop in your video. MP4, MOV and MKV all work, as do MP3 and WAV for audio. The AI detects the spoken language on its own, across 100 languages, and times every word.
Read the transcript once before you style anything. Fix your name, product names and any slang the AI misheard. You only fix them once, and every export after that uses the corrected text.
Step 2: Pick a caption style
There are 22 style presets, and eight of them are free. Choose one that matches the videos in your reference library, then adjust the font, size and colors.
If you post often, consistency matters more than any single style. Pro lets you save a style and reuse it on every video, use your own brand fonts, and let AI pick the keywords to highlight.
Step 3: Add a hook title
A caption tells viewers what you're saying. A hook title tells them why to keep watching. Add a short line of text on screen, such as "3 mistakes new editors make", and decide when it shows.
You can add up to three text blocks per video on the free plan.
Step 4: Keep captions out of the app's buttons
Every platform covers part of a vertical video with its own interface: the username and description at the bottom, and the like and share buttons on the right. Captions placed there get hidden. On a 1080 × 1920 video, Instagram Reels covers roughly the bottom 35%, TikTok about 484 px at the bottom, and YouTube Shorts about 672 px.
Run your clip through an Instagram, TikTok and Shorts safe zone checker before you export. It plays your video in the browser with each platform's overlay on top, so you can see exactly what gets covered. It's free and needs no sign-up.
Step 5: Export for where you'll post
Choose the right export format depending on the platform you are publishing to:
- TikTok, Reels and Shorts: export an MP4 with the captions burned in. Free exports come in 720p or 1080p with no watermark.
- YouTube long-form: upload a subtitle file instead, so viewers can turn captions on or off. A video to SRT converter gives you SRT or VTT files, which YouTube Studio accepts.
Reach viewers in other languages
Translating your captions is free, into 100+ languages. For YouTube, upload each translated SRT as an extra subtitle language, and viewers pick theirs from the settings menu. For short-form, Pro adds bilingual captions, which show two languages on screen at once.
Your unreleased video stays on your device
Creators often caption a video days before it goes live. Captions Generator renders captions in your browser, so the video itself is never uploaded. Only the audio track is sent for transcription, and neither the video nor the audio is stored.
Keep the final version
Once a video is posted, keep the captioned MP4 and its SRT file together in your own library. When you repost it, cut a new version, or upload it to another platform, the captions are ready.
Frequently asked questions
Should I burn captions in or upload an SRT?
For TikTok, Reels and Shorts, burn them in: you control the style and position, and they show for everyone. For YouTube long-form, upload an SRT, so viewers can switch captions off or choose a language.
Aren't the apps' built-in auto captions enough?
They're fine for a quick post. They give you few style choices, though, and you can't make them look the same across platforms. If captions are part of your look, style them yourself.
How many words should show at once?
Short lines are easier to read on a phone. Many fast-paced creators show one to four words at a time. Slower, explanatory videos can use full subtitle lines. Check your reference library for what works in your niche.
Can I caption a podcast clip?
Yes. Drop in the video clip to export it with burned-in captions, or drop in the audio file to get an SRT or a plain TXT transcript for your show notes.